


Red birdie

by Jc27



Category: Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
Genre: And some talk about being abused, First chapter is pretty simple so the blood and stuff isn’t there, Other, Ravio and Legend get hurt, don’t read if that’s not your thing, there’s some blood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-30
Updated: 2019-07-31
Packaged: 2020-07-25 23:47:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20034322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jc27/pseuds/Jc27
Summary: The LU gang ends up in Lorule and our favorite Lorulien gets hurt.Legend is hurt too.





	1. The calm before the hurt

**Author's Note:**

> Ravio is one of my favorite LoZ characters. Legend is a favorite LU characters. This was inevitable.

The group had all been traveling around the plains Wild’s Hyrule when it happened. 

The wind stopped, all sounds froze, and it seemed as if time itself had ceased. Next thing they knew, the world shifted underneath their feet and they were all picking themselves off the cold ground.

“Wow.” Wind said as he viewed the dark world around them.

It looked like some nightmare version of Hyrule. The sky was dark, like a never ending night. There was a threatening silence to the air that put them all on edge. Worst was the cold. The absence of the warmth they had known throughout all their lives.

“What is this?” Sky whispered. He seemed horrified at this dark world.

“Lorule.” Legend answered. He was too busy admiring the dark shadow of a castle looming in the distance to notice the others. After a few moments he added, “It looks better than last time I was here.”

“How could this have possibly been any worse?!” Warriors exclaimed.

“The grass used to all be dead and it was a bit darker.”

“Legend, what is this place?” Time asked. Even he seemed disturbed by this warped world.

Legend rolled his eyes. “Like I said, Lorule. It’s… it’s basically another world that’s a bit different than ours.”

“A bit?” Four mumbled.

“Like the Twilight?” Twilight asked. He had given the group an explanation about his adventure with the Twilight realm.

Legend thought about it for a minute. “Yeah, kind of.”

“What’s wrong with this place?” Wind asked.

The hero of Legend’s eyes narrowed, “Nothing that isn’t being fixed. C’mon, let’s go to the castle.”

“To meet Zelda?” Four asked.

With a smirk Legend answered, “Someone like her.”

And off he went, ignoring the rest of the groups questions and only telling them a few warnings about what and what not to do.

-<>-<>-<>-<>-

It was the next day when they reached the castle. Broken towns full of cruel people had been common as the group traveled which didn’t do much to improve their spirits.

Except, for once, it seemed as if Legend was pleased. There was a way that he held himself. A way that he took in the world around him, like a breath of fresh air. The others couldn’t understand it.

Why would Legend enjoy such a dreadful place?

Despite their many questions, Legend wouldn’t talk. Sure he would say things, but the details—the emotions— weren’t there. The hero of Legend says so much and yet so very little.

As they approached the castle guards drew their weapons at the nine of them. Effectively blocking the gate.

“Halt! State your—“

“Link?” The guards were interrupted by a young girl, no older than Legend. She stood right in the gate, the guards immediately withdrew their weapons.

Her hair and lips were a dark purple that seemed to match this gloomy world. The girls skin was pale, as if her skin had never felt the sun. Then there were her eyes. Those blood red eyes that held so much pain and so <strike> little </strike> much hope.

The girl seemed far too old for her young age.

Legend waved, “Hey Hilda.”

The next thing the group knew the girl—Hilda—was giving Legend a bear hug.

“You disappear for months without telling anyone! Do you know how worried we all were?”

By the surprised face Legend was making it was clear that he had no idea.

“We’ve all be so on edge. Waiting to see you return or just waiting to hear of your death.“ Legend looked highly offended. “Don’t make that face! We all know what skilled adventurer you are, but even the best can fall.” The girl spoke so gravely. It made Time wonder what horror the young princess had been through.

“Excuse me, but what is happening?” Warriors interrupted.

Both Legend and Hilda turned to the group. “Guys, this is Princess—“

“Queen.”

“QUEEN Hilda of Lorule. She rules this place. Hilda these guys are…”

“Time.”

“Sky.”

“Twilight.”

“Wild.”

“Four.”

“Wind.”

“Warriors.”

“Hyrule.”

Hilda blinked. “Those are… interesting names.”

Legend sighed, “You have no idea. We should go inside. There’s a _ lot _to explain.”

Hilda nodded, “Indeed.”

The inside of the castle had the same darkness that seemed to fill the world. Light only game from the many torches and lanterns that filled the interior. Yet the place had an unexplainable feeling a familiarity that none of them could shake.

Legend seemed to be affected by the feeling too. “I’m never gonna get used to that.”

Hilda glanced over to him with an amused smile. “You and Zelda were the ones who gifted it to us.”

“That doesn’t mean I’m used to it!”

The rest of the group listened to Legend argue with the girl, they both seemed quite happy bickering with one another.

“What are you talking about?” Wind exclaimed. He was desperately curious and needed to know!

Legend, who was starting to become the biggest annoyance any of them had ever known, smirked and lead them all to a set of double doors.

Hilda walked right next to Legend and after a _ look _, they opened them simultaneously.

Running in first, Wind gasped. As the others filed in after they too were stunned.

There it was, on a pedestal. It glowed like the sun and brought back so many memories.

The Triforce.

But it, like this world, was different.

“It’s upside down?” Sky inquired, tilting his head like a puppy.

“Can’t get anything past you.” Warriors was smacked on the head by at least four different hands, much to Legend’s amusement.

“This is Lorule’s Triforce.” Hilda said.

“There’s more than one?” Four asked.

“Lorule is what you might call the flip side of Hyrule. It looks similar, but there are big differences in personality, among other things.” Hilda explained.

Is that why the Triforce is upside down?” Hyrule asked.

“Our Triforce was always like this. It’s only a matter of perspective.”

“Earlier,” Time said, gesturing to the halls behind the doors, “you mentioned how Legend and Zelda gifted this to you.”

Hilda nodded, “Link and Zelda were kind enough to grant us a wish for the sake of Lorule, even when we didn’t deserve it.”

Legend gestures wildly around the room. “You didn’t deserve to slowly rot away either!”

“I was ready to kill you. To leave Hyrule to suffer our fate so that we could thrive.” Hilda whispered viciously.

They all froze. Legend had never mentioned Hilda doing that. Thinking about it, Legend didn’t really talk about Lorule(nor Koholint, but none of them even know about that).

Legend never mentioned Lorule by name, always referring to it as a darker Hyrule.

He had told the story in a black and white way. Good people who were forced into bad things, ultimately leaving them good. But it seemed that his story wasn’t as black and white as it seemed.

“Hilda, you were trying to save your world. I can’t blame you for that.” There was a surprising gentleness in Legend’s tone. He almost never talked to so kindly.

Hilda looked up at the triforce, “You and Zelda are too kind. Lorule could never hope to raise people like you.”

“Don’t sell yourself short,” Legend smirked, “Lorule is getting better. Don’t think I haven’t seen it. Besides, Lorule doesn’t need people like Zelda and me, it needs people like you…and Ravio.” He added as an afterthought.

Hilda’s eyes widened into saucers, “I forgot about him! Link, before you all arrived Ravio had been on his way to Hyrule to see if you had returned!”

“What!” Legend growled out a few curses(Sky was not amused, Wind was though), “The idiot is gonna get himself killed!” 

Not wasting a moment, Legend ran out the doors they just entered through. 

The eight other heroes said quick goodbyes to Hilda and rushed to follow him.

Legend was surprisingly fast and had already made it quite a ways before everyone else even made it out of the castle.

The hero of Legend ran across the field and went to a hill with a small house on it. It looked broken and vacant and worn down.

Ignoring their shouts, Legend threw the door open and darted inside.

The others were quick to get to the door and follow. Only, when they entered the house yet saw a flash of movement as Legend traveled through a crack in the wall.

Warriors and Wind rushed to the colorful crack that may have been through the universe itself. Both gripped it and tried to pull it open in an attempt to follow their friend.

Not knowing what else to do, the others watched. 

It was only minutes later that Time forced them to stop.

“Save your energy. Legend will come back and until then we’ll stay here.”

No one had any arguments. They all were worried, but it seemed that all they could do was wait. 

To pass the time, and give more room, the heroes worked together to push all the clutter away. Twilight, Warriors, and Time all did the heavy lifting. Sky, Hyrule, and Four handled the fragile things. And Wild and Wind worked together to make food(Wild was mostly telling Wind what to do).

While Twilight was moving a box full of who knew what, a small book fell from it.

“What’s that?” Hyrule asked.

All eyes turned to the small book on the floor. Hyrule walked over and picked it up. There was no title, maybe it had faded away.

The hero of Hyrule opened the book, his eyebrows furrowed as he read it.

“What’s it say?” Wind asked. He was constantly shifting from one foot to the other.

The troubled look remained on Hyrule’s face as he read, “Three days to go. She wants to do the right thing. I want to help her. But leaving is my only option.”

“What the heck does that mean?”

Warriors wasn’t the only one wondering.Everyone was confused. What did that mean? Who was the person the author referred to? They needed to know more.

“Two days to go. She’s being duped. Doesn’t she realize that? He’s just a leech. There’s no choice but to go.” No one bothered to say anything as Hyrule continued. “One day to go.” Everyone looked at each other. “I have so little magic. Enough to go there—maybe not to come back. But tomorrow must be the day. I may never see her again, but I vow to save her from all of this.”

The group just continued looking at each other. No one was really sure what to say.

Hesitating a bit, Sky said, “I—“

A loud thud(along with more curses. Sky was going to kill someone)interrupted him.

On the ground there was Legend and Ravio. Legend looked scuffed up, like he had been in a fight. Ravio was...less alright. 

“Hyrule get over here and help me!”

They had never heard Legend so panicked.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: some blood. Turns out this might be longer than expected. I might add another chapter.

_ On the ground there was Legend and Ravio. Legend looked scuffed up, like he had been in a fight. Ravio was...less alright.  _

_ “Hyrule get over here and help me!” _

_ They had never heard Legend so panicked. _

Hyrule rushed over and tried to figure out what was happening.

“Warriors, lay out a bedroll!”

Warriors was already moving by the time Time finished speaking.

Legend was gripping Ravio tight. He was holding one of the Merchant’s arms over his shoulders, it seemed that he had to walk while supporting Ravio to get back.

“What happened?” Hyrule asked urgently as he and Legend put the Lorulien on the bedroll.

“I was running to catch up but from what I saw he was attacked by some group of monsters. I barely got in there fast enough to help. The idiot shouldn’t have gone looking for me!”

Ravio was pale, paler than normal. He was limp, luckily just unconscious. His breathing was ragged and mumbles and groans were constant. And there was an ever growing red splotch of blood on his chest. Legend was next to his friend on the ground and was hesitantly touching over it.

A hiss of pain escaped from the merchant and Legend instantly removed his hand.

“What do we do?” The hero of Legend seemed at a loss.

Hyrule was pulling his pack over, there had to be something in there that could help. “You are going to get checked by Sky to make sure that you aren’t hurt either.”

“But—“

“But Four and I can handle this.”

“...”

“Please.”

Legend stood and backed away, Four rushed next to Hyrule the second he could, and Sky lead Legend few feet away.

“Four, help me take off his robe, I need to see the wound.”

With the two of them working together Hyrule and Four were able to remove the purple robe from the merchant.

The groans and hisses of pain weren’t uplifting, but it needed to be done.

“Wild can you start heating up some water, just make it a bit warm. We’ll need to clean this.” Four knew that Wild could handle that as they worked.

Now with a clear view of the wound they could tell that it would be hard. A few cuts littered his body from the monsters, along with a large gash on his stomach that wouldn’t be healed with just a potion.

Four searched his own bag for a potion while Hyrule applied pressure to the wound with a clean shirt he had in his bag. The merchant groaned.

Carefully lifting his head up, Four gave Ravio the potion and they could see many of the scattered cuts and bruises heal.

Like they had thought the gash didn’t completely heal, but it was much more manageable now. However, that didn’t stop the hisses of pain.

“Water’s ready.” Wild called. How he heated the water Four wasn’t sure, but at the moment he couldn’t care less.

“Perfect! Bring it over here please.” Four told Wild.

Wild brought a bucket full of warm water over to the two.

Four tore a few pieces of cloth from who knew where and got to work on cleaning the blood.

As the two of them worked, Legend was close to a full blown panic. Sky was still poking and prodding every bruise and scratch he could see.

Legend knew it was all his fault. He left his friends with no warning about where he was going, of course they were worried. And now one of the people who knew him best, who literally was him from another world, was hurt. It was all his fault and he was such a bad friend and he should have known better!

“It’s not your fault you know.”

The words are so sudden, so surprising, that all Legend can force himself to say is, “What?”

“I know what you’re thinking.  _ It’s all your fault. You should’ve known better. He’s hurt because of you _ . None of that’s true.”

“He wouldn’t have been out there if he wasn’t looking for me!”

“Legend, you can't control what Ravio does. He  _ chose _ to go.”

“He wouldn’t have had to make that choice if I hadn’t disappeared.”

Sky stared at him. Legend, the snarky level-headed adventurer was so sure, so sure, that it was his fault. Sky knew that he couldn’t offered the words Legend needed to hear, they needed to come from someone else.

The hero of the Sky sighed, “None of us blame you. You’re a good friend Legend.”

“Since when? Last I recall I was making Warriors regret ever speaking and insulting everyone else.”

“You’re kind in your own way. All the snark and insults are just your way of defending yourself.”

“I don’t have time for this.”

Before Sky could get in another word Legend was up and staring at his injured friend.

Hyrule was just finishing stitches and Four was prepared to bandage the wound.

Time, Twilight, and Wild were all in a group talking while glancing at Ravio and Legend constantly.

It seemed that Warriors was trying to distract Wind from this whole thing by telling stories of his Hyrule. Wind was going along with it, but that didn’t stop the worried looks he sent Legend’s way.

Quiet chatter were the only noises aside from sounds of pain from the merchant.

Legend watched intently as he sat against the wall with the crack in the wall leading to another world.

Some time later, which felt like years, Hyrule and Four finished. Placing a blanket over the merchant they let him be. They’d done all they could and now all anyone could do was wait.

Wild had set a fire in the fireplace and started cooking up soup.

As they ate, Wind asked the question that had been on everybody’s mind. “Will he be alright?”

Four and Hyrule looked at each other, at Ravio, and back at each other. “We can’t be sure right now, the potion did help, but it was a nasty cut.”

“Oh.” It was unsettling to hear the sailor so quiet.

They couldn’t help but glance at Legend who had moved from his spot so he could sit next to Ravio. Despite all their trying, he wouldn’t eat. The hero of Legend said he wasn’t hungry.

None of them had it in them to argue. They left the young man to his thoughts.

The house was quiet for a long time. At least until a thud was heard outside the door.

Everyone, including Legend, snapped their heads to the door. Time slowly stood up, they could hear rustling outside, he walked to the door, another thud, and opened it to reveal...

Ravio’s bunny hood floating in mid air.

“What?” Time was tired.

The hood simply flew past him and to Legend who seemed to understand what was going on.

The hood floated in front of the hero of Legend. Legend himself gave a half smile. “Hey little guy. It’s been awhile.”

He spoke so softly, maybe he was too tired to be mean.

Everyone else was seriously starting to question their sanity when Legend lifted the bunny hood revealing a bird.

Legend set the hood aside as the bird flew next to him. The bird had some unsettling red spots that covered most of its white feathers.

“Hey Wild, is there any water left?”

The hero of Wild quickly pieced together what Legend wanted to do and set a small bowl of water next to him.

The bird hopped into the bowl and Legend was careful to help wash out the red.

Legend looked up to see the group staring. “Stop looking at me like that!”

Nevermind, guess still had enough energy.

Most of the group quickly moved their gazes away from Legend. Wind however, decided to get closer.

“What do you want?” 

Instead of answering, Wind gestures to the bird, “What’s its name?”

“Sheerow.”

“Huh. I never would have guessed that. I was thinking he’d—if it’s a he—be named something like Dove or Omen or something.”

Despite how upset he had been, Legend smiled. 

-<>-<>-<>-<>-

It was a few hours later when Ravio woke.

Legend and Hyrule were the only ones awake. Hyrule because it was his shift. Legend because he was too stubborn to sleep.

Ravio groaned as he slowly became coherent. He weakly opened his eyes and smiled when he saw Sheerow sleeping on Legend’s lap. He saw Legend next. “Link!” What was supposed to be a cry of surprise ended up being a hoarse whisper.

Legend and Hyrule’s heads snapped to him. “Ravio? You’re up?”

“Yeah? Is that bad?”

Hyrule walked next to Legend and quickly assured the merchant that he was fine.

“What happened?” Ravio asked.

Hyrule and Legend gave each other a look. 

“We should be asking you that.” Legend said.

“I was.. well looking for you.”

“I got that.”

“How’d you know Legend was back?” Hyrule asked. The other two looked at him wide eyed.

“What?” Legend whispered.

“Well he was looking for you and Hilda said it was just today that he did that. How’d he know?”

Both turned to look at the merchant who smiled sheepishly.

“I um kinda felt that you were here. Like a weird pull that said he’s back!”

No one was really sure what to make of it.

They sat in silence for a few moments before Ravio coughed, “Hey can I get my robe back?”


End file.
